During the third round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers drafted Yegor Zavragin at 87th overall. Zavragin was sought as a consolation prize if a team missed out on one of Carson Bjarnason, Trey Augustine, or Michael Hrabal. Daniel Briere managed to secure both Zavragin and Bjarnason.
“Zavragin was there, we rated him way high. It was just a no-brainer to take him at that point, Kimmy was really high on him. It’s just value at that point.”
Brent Flahr; 6/29/2023
In 2022-2023, Zavragin spent his time in the MHL with Mamonty Yugry, posting a record of 11-6-1 with a 92%SV and a 2.49GAA. During the postseason, Zavragin went 2-2-0 with a 92.7%SV and a 2.68GAA.
Standing at 6’2″ and 187lbs, Zavragin was the 12th-ranked European G according to NHL Central Scouting. After drafting Zavragin, the Flyers currently have three G prospects playing in Russian leagues, including Alexei Kolosov and Ivan Fedotov.
Zavragin is an agile G who takes up a lot of space in the net due to his frame. He has solid rebound control and an impressive glove. In addition to his glove, Zavragin deflects pucks to low-danger areas of the ice. His poise in the crease rings loud up against high-danger offense.
After selecting back-to-back goaltenders in the second and third rounds, Briere mentioned none of the picks had any influence on the future of Carter Hart:
“It’s fun to see the Flyers having good prospects coming in the system; building that way. We were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to get one of the goaltenders we had high on our list, that’s why we moved up for the first one. And then, all of a sudden, someone we had right up there with Bjarnason was still there available. So we felt the upside was just too much to pass up.”
Daniel Briere; 6/29/2023
Russian G prospects are doing well, developing into elite NHL players. Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Sergei Bobrovsky are a handful of current headliners. Of those four, Vasilevskiy was a first-round pick. Shesterkin and Sorokin were selected after the second round. Bobrovsky went undrafted, but former Flyers GM Paul Holmgren signed him in 2010.
Due to the nature of the position, it takes some time to develop G prospects. Zavragin will earn more opportunities to continue his growth in Russia.
“Zavragin will be the national team goalie probably in Russia. They do a very good job there developing goalies in Russia.”
Brent Flahr; 6/29/2023
Next month, Zavragin turns 18 years old. He’ll continue his development in Russia for the foreseeable future. He is under contract through 2024-2025, returning to Mamonty Yugry in the MHL. Time will tell about Zavragin and his role with the Flyers as the next couple of seasons elapses.
(AP Photo/George Walker IV)
